An Extra Wheel
by SabaceanBabe
Summary: Suddenly, Helo could see nothing but Sharon. He was entranced.


**An Extra Wheel**

Author: SabaceanBabe

Rating: PG

Word count: 1,908

Date: August 4, 2005

Pairing: Helo/Boomer, maybe Helo/Starbuck (if you squint)

Disclaimer: Alas, none of them are mine. I promise not to harm them and to return them to RDM when I'm finished. After all, he _did_ say that I could play in his world…

Author's note: This is my Hidden Elysium ficathon entry written for Lyssie, who wanted crackers, brilliant sunshine, and icicles. Thank you so much to Un4scene for the beta.

xxx

Sharon knocked lightly at the door of Kara's hotel room. She was a couple of minutes early, but that sort of thing never mattered to Kara. Kara was not one to stand on ceremony, much more likely to mock formality than to engage in it.

A man's voice came to her through the thin door, growing louder as he came closer – "I've got it, Kara!" – and then it opened to reveal a tall, lean man with hazel eyes and short-cropped brown hair. "You must be Sharon."

"Yeah, that's me." Only slightly surprised that her friend wasn't alone this early in the morning, Sharon looked past him, saw the rumpled bed and clothes flung over the back of a chair. Her gaze returned to him. "And you are…?"

"Karl Agathon." He stood aside and held the door open for her to enter. "Call me Helo."

She had been taking in the attractive package – yellow t-shirt covering broad shoulders, jeans, bare feet – but she looked up at that. "Helo?"

He grinned at her, noticing her noticing him. "Nickname… call sign… It's what I'm used to. Cracker?" He popped one into his mouth as he held out the bag, offering her the salty octagons.

Sharon shook her head, the tail of her hair tickling the back of her neck. "No, thank you." Instead, she held out her hand to shake his. "It's nice to meet you, though."

His warm hand enveloped hers and he drew her into the room. Feeling a bit awkward, she looked around at the desk and chair, the entertainment unit, the small refrigerator, the dresser, anywhere but at the man with whom Kara was apparently sharing the room.

Note sure what else to do, Sharon pulled out the desk chair and sat, bouncing one knee nervously to the accompaniment of Helo's rhythmic crunching. The self-conscious almost-silence stretched between them as Kara came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, rubbing at her wet hair with another. "Karl, toss me that brush."

Helo threw his empty bag into the trash and walked over to the nightstand. Sharon watched his progress – she couldn't fault her friend's taste in men, not this time.

The brush sailed through the air and Kara caught it with one hand, holding the towel with the other. "I see you two have met," she observed as she rummaged through her kit bag, producing underwear, bra, jeans, and a light sweater. "Sharon, I hope you don't mind I invited Helo to tag along…"

"Yeah," he added, "my sister had to bail on me, so I had nothing better to do than bother Starbuck." He flopped onto the bed, resting his head on interlaced fingers. "I can entertain myself, if you'd rather not--"

"No, no, that's okay. I don't mind," she protested automatically, but she was beginning to feel like an extra wheel. She rose from the chair, took a couple of steps toward the door. "If you two would rather be alone…"

Kara snorted and Helo stuck his tongue out at Kara. "Later, Karl," she laughed as she returned to the steamy bathroom.

"In your dreams, Thrace. Aren't you done primping yet?" The thought of Kara primping almost made Sharon laugh.

She did laugh when Kara's wet towel landed on Helo's face just before she pulled the door almost closed behind her. "So, Sharon, you said you had news," Kara called through the opening she'd left. "What's so shocking it had to wait for you to tell me in person?"

Sharon felt a wave of accomplishment and pleasure wash over her as she replied, "I've been accepted into the officer training program at the Academy."

There was a pause, and then, "You what?" Although Kara had joked about the news being shocking, her voice clearly indicated real surprise. "When did you even enlist?"

She laughed. "About three months ago. I just finished basic and I'll be heading out to Picon next week. I'm going to be a Raptor pilot." Sharon dropped down into the overstuffed chair next to the bed, quite pleased with Kara's reaction. She had always teased Kara about being in the military, swore that it wasn't the life for her and that she'd never succumb to Kara's suggestions otherwise.

Helo propped himself up, leaning back on his elbows and snickering at Kara's surprise. "Raptors, huh? They're great ships," he said with a sidelong glance toward the bathroom.

"Only if you can't hack a Viper," Kara responded, opening the bathroom door the rest of the way.

"Vipers." Helo threw Kara's towel back at her. "All flash, no substance," he teased as she caught the fabric, wrapping it around her forearm.

Sharon looked back and forth at the two of them, cocked her head to one side, and focused on Helo. "Call sign? Vipers all flash and no substance? I guess that makes you a Raptor pilot."

"Got it in one," he smiled.

He really did have a great smile. And he and Kara seemed so relaxed together. It was nice to see. Since Zak's death, Kara had become more and more prickly and tense.

"Get your shoes on, Raptor Boy," Kara ordered as she sat on the end of the bed to pull on a pair of socks. "If I'm going to put up with your shit, I need coffee."

xxx

Standing outside the hotel in the brilliant morning sunlight, Helo waited for Kara and her friend, blowing puffs of vapor in the cold air and tracing with his eyes the misty paths as they dissipated in the light breeze. There had been an ice storm overnight, and the trees and shrubs surrounding the hotel were a dazzling sight, prisms of light breaking up and forming a colorful, sparkling display.

Wondering what was taking them so long – despite his earlier teasing, Kara had never, ever primped the entire time he'd known her – he wandered around to the back of the hotel grounds, where he discovered woods beyond the parking area and a path leading into the trees. Having nothing better to do just then, he followed it.

Listening to the birds as they greeted the morning, Helo considered Kara's friend. Kara had told him a bit about her, but the snippets she'd given him hadn't prepared him for the reality. Sharon Valerii was beautiful and exotic and didn't seem to be aware of it. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, a self-mocking smile stole over his face as he thought about how easy it would be for him to get lost in those dark eyes of hers. Or that soft, low voice. He'd been an idiot to offer her crackers, but he hadn't been able to think of anything else to say.

Gravel crunched under his feet as he walked, the path leading him to a clearing in the trees, centered on a small pond. More sunlight arrowed through the crystalline trees, glittering and shimmering through the ice that had formed a thick rime on the leafless branches. It looked like something out of a fairy tale.

In the distance, beneath the birdsong and the brittle rattle of the ice-rimed branches, he heard Kara call his name. "I'm in the woods, Kara!" he shouted. "Follow the path!" He turned again to the pond and waited for them to catch up. Picking up a handful of flat rocks, he threw one into the water, watched the ripples as they flowed from the epicenter of the disturbance to break on the thin ice at the edges of the water.

He turned when he heard the scuff of their feet on the path, saw Sharon following a second or two behind Kara, both surrounded by a corona of sparkling ice-light. Sharon laughed at something Kara had just said. The cold had put a rosy glow into her cheeks, her liquid-dark eyes glittered in the reflected sunlight, streaks of light shimmered in her brown hair as her warm breath reacted to the cold air in a translucent cloud.

Suddenly, Helo could see nothing but Sharon; he was entranced.

"Karl?" Kara's voice finally broke through the spell.

Embarrassed, hoping Sharon hadn't caught him staring, knowing Kara had, he turned away, back toward the much safer sight of the icy pond. He tossed the rest of the stones into the water, causing ripples that broke apart on each other.

"This place is so beautiful," Sharon said, clearly delighted with the wintry setting, and Helo couldn't stop his eyes from straying back to her, even though he knew he'd hear about it from Kara later, if not sooner.

"Yeah, it's not bad," he replied, wiping his hands on his jeans, trying to regain his composure. "You guys ready to go?"

He felt Kara's gaze like a physical thing and looked over to see the official Starbuck Smirk, directed at him. She sauntered toward him, came close enough to whisper, "Isn't she a little young for you?" before she passed him by, catching up with Sharon to head back the way they had come.

xxx

_"Raptor three-five-seven, you are cleared to land."_

The sound of Dee's voice over the wireless was both welcome and welcoming – Helo and Cueball had been on detached duty for almost a month and it was good to be home. Helo landed his bird with careful precision, despite the fact that he wanted nothing more than to get off the Raptor and head for the showers. And there was still the post-flight check to run through, a flaky fuel valve to report to the Chief, the mission debrief…

Shutting down the engines, he removed his helmet. "It's good to be home," Cueball said from the ECO station, echoing Helo's thoughts. "I need a hot shower and then maybe a quick game of Triad to wind down."

"Since when does Triad help you relax?" Helo laughed as he ran down the checklist on his clipboard. Cueball was notorious for taking cards way too seriously. Even Starbuck wouldn't play with him unless she was in a mood herself.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe I'll hit the hammerball court and then the showers." There was the slight clatter of a clipboard being returned to its hook, then, "Hey, isn't Starbuck's rook friend supposed to be on board by now?"

"Is she? I'd forgotten all about her."

"Horseshit, Agathon. The way you talked about her when you and Starbuck got back from Aerilon? And how many times have you mentioned her in the last month? I lost count at about a hundred."

"Frak you, Morrisey."

His ECO let out an evil laugh and headed down the ramp. Helo shook his head and returned to his instrument panel to finish post-flight before tracking down Tyrol.

It didn't take long to spot the Chief, who was on one of the catwalks that surrounded the perimeter of the hangar, talking to a dark-haired woman wearing the blue uniform of an officer. Circling around, Helo started up the stairs to the catwalk. "Hey, Chief!" he called. "My bird has a flaky fuel valve – would you check her out, when you get the chance?"

"Sure, Lieutenant, I'll get right on it."

As Helo reached the top of the stairs and set foot on the catwalk, he recognized the dark-haired woman who had been listening so intently to what Tyrol had to say, who never took her eyes from him, who seemed to see nothing but the Chief.

It was Sharon Valerii.


End file.
